The Franklin Lady Lions have had a blessed season. They survived successive scares at the Region Tournament and advanced to what is hallowed ground for Lion fans. No Franklin Team has advanced to the State ever in history. Defeating first Nacogdoches Central Heights by 3 on Friday 72-69 and then coming back in the Region Finals to defeat Crawford 66-63, the Lady Lions became a part of school history. For Coach Shelton and the Lady Lions the wins were a testament to the diligence and hard work they have put into the program. The Lady Lions style is quite different from the usual girls basketball game. They force tempo to the maximum with their pressure defense and their barrage of quick shots. The Lady Lions have been known to shoot as many as 50, 3-point shots in one game and create as many as 45 turnovers with their pressure.
They will need to do that and more against the two time defending State Champions from Brock, when they face off at 10:00 am on Friday morning. The Lady Lions have been in the underdog role before and yet here they stand, so in their mind, it’s just game on. In the1st game of the 2A Semifinals, Wall defeated Hallettsville 59-44 to advance to the Finals.
The Lady Lions chose a real bad time to go cold shooting the ball. After a 15 point 1st quarter the Lady Lions would only score 8 in the 2nd quarter, while allowing 30 to trail at the half 52-23. Another poor shooting quarter in the 3rd sealed their fate as Brock roared out to a 65-27 lead as Franklin could only manage 4 points in the quarter. By then only 3 Lady Lions had scored with Casey getting 10, Kyla Walker getting 17 and Regan Blajeski 8. The 4th saw more of the same, as Brock showed why they are the two time defending State Champions, and they eased to an unexpected easy 78-38 win. Franklin had 20 plus turnovers and made only 4 of 39 three-point shots on what was a miserable day for them. For Coach Shelton and the Lady Lions, it was not the ending they had planned, but they had a great run never the less and ended the season at 30-6. Congratulations to the Lady Lions on a fantastic season, you are indeed winners.
To show her versatility Lady Lions star Carrie Casey, left the Basketball Semi-Finals game played singles in the Tennis regionals and qualified to go to the State Championship in Tennis. Although she missed her doubles match she was able to make the singles match in time. What a weekend this has been for Carrie and the Lady Lions, congratulations and good luck in Tennis.